Chapter 3: Bound by Shadows
When I entered the bathroom, my mother’s presence felt like the only thread keeping me tethered to reality. She didn’t say much—she didn’t need to.
Her arms around me and the steady rhythm of her heartbeat were enough to calm the storm raging inside me. The warm water ran over my skin as though it could wash away the tension.
But it couldn’t. It didn’t.
My thoughts were a blur. I couldn’t absorb everything that had happened. There were too many things happening at once, too many people I had trusted. But here, at this moment, none of that mattered. My mother’s hands were in my hair, and her soft voice felt like the only real thing.
“You are strong, daughter,” she murmured, the words sinking into me like a promise.
I wanted to believe her, but I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough.
How could I be?
We stayed there for what felt like hours, wrapped in silence, letting the world outside fall away. I was no longer crying when I finally stepped out of the shower. But the weight of the decision I had to make still pressed heavily on my chest.
I packed light—simple clothes, nothing that would tie me to this life.
The following day, the house was quiet, starkly contrasting the chaos inside me. My father handed me my phone, his hands stiff, his face unreadable.
“Let me save Alexei’s number for you,” he said, his voice as cold as the marble floors beneath us.
No hugs. No promises. Not a single word of reassurance. We all knew why I was leaving.
They thought they were protecting me. They thought they were making me safe. And me?
I was stepping into a cage.
The private jet loomed at the airport like a beast waiting to devour me whole. Alexei had arranged the flight, but everything had changed. Nothing felt familiar.
